My Evil Math Teacher
by Iamafanoftoomanythingstoname
Summary: Darry has a girlfriend that hates Ponyboy. Is she just a mean math teacher, or... is there more to it than that?
1. Darry's girlfriend

**Disclaimer: I don't own The Outsiders. The only one that I own in this story is Christine, my first Outsiders OC!**

**Ponyboy Pov**

"Hey Ponyboy. Wake up." That was Sodapop.

"Just five more minutes," I said tiredly.

"Nope. You gotta get up now." I groaned.

"Don't make me tickle you."

"Fine," I said and opened my eyes. It was Saturday. I saw the clock, and it said 9:00 am. I really wish that I could sleep in longer.

"Morning, Pony."

"Hey, Sodapop."

"Time for breakfast!" Darry yelled from the kitchen. We walked in and sat at the table.

"Do we get chocolate cake?" Soda asked. Darry laughed.

"No, not this time. You have to eat something else at least once in a while." Sodapop grinned.

We sat there in silence for about two minutes when Soda asked, "So, how's it going with you and Christine?" Darry's girlfriend. Also known as my math teacher. It was very awkward for my brother to be dating Miss Melony. She doesn't even like me. I don't know what she has against me; she just simply doesn't like me. I even asked her one time and she just told me to be quiet. She was nice to everyone else.

"Oh, Darry…" Someone called in a sweet voice. Oh, no. Speak of the devil. I groaned. Darry went to the door to let her in.

They walked in here and Darry said, "Would you like some breakfast?"

"No thank you, I already ate," she said and glared at me.

"Nice to see you too," I muttered. After I finished my breakfast, I washed dishes with Sodapop, and I tried not to look glum.

I guess it wasn't working because Soda asked, "What's the matter?"

"Nothing," I lied. He just shrugged. When we were done, I walked to my room and tried to find a book to read, but I couldn't find one that I haven't already read. I got up and walked to the living room. I saw both of my brothers and my teacher sitting on the couch talking. I decided not to go in there. I didn't really feel like getting more glares from her. Then I heard a noise. I turned around and saw Steve.

"Hi, Ponyboy," he said and walked up behind Soda. "Hey, buddy."

"Oh, hey, Steve."

"You wanna hang out and play poker or something?"

"Okay." Sodapop and Steve walked out to the kitchen to play poker. I decided to just go in there and watch their game. At about 12:30 we had lunch. It was horrible. I'm not talking about the food. I mean that I did not have a good time. Darry and my teacher kept looking at each other longingly. I rolled my eyes and tried not to look at them. She finally left at about 3:00.

Then everything went back to normal. I knew that Darry was really happy, so I guess that I would try to tolerate his girlfriend.


	2. The breakup

She came over every single day. I started to wonder why she didn't just move in. And, after a while, instead of ignoring me, she started bossing me around. And when I didn't do what she said, she would slap me around until I did. I tried to cool off a little by taking a walk around town. As I was walking past the police station, I saw two cops talking to each other about something. I hid behind a bush and listened.

"You know that woman, Christine Melony?" One of them said. I listened closer.

"Yeah. What about her?" The other one asked.

"I heard that she has a new boyfriend."

"Poor guy. The last boyfriend she had lost all his money because of her. One night, while he was sleeping, she stole all his money out of his wallet and left. She also robbed a bank soon after."

"We really need to catch her soon, before every guy in the world loses their money." I think they said something else, but I couldn't hear them over my screaming thoughts. We couldn't lose all our money. We're already greasers! Why did she want our money, instead of the Socs'? They have more money than us. Maybe she's just one of those people who just wants to make other people's lives miserable. I had to warn Darry. I ran as fast as I could back to our house.

"DARRY!" I screamed when I got in.

"What is it, Ponyboy? You don't need to yell."

"Darry, your girlfriend is an abuser!" He looked confused.

"What?"

"I was walking by the police station, and they were talking about her. They said that she robbed her last boyfriend while he was sleeping."

"I don't understand. She didn't do that to me."

"She just didn't do it yet. But, she was hitting me."

"She what?"

"When I didn't do what she wanted, she would slap me around until I did."

"Why didn't you tell me?"

"You and her just looked so happy together, and I didn't want to ruin it for you." He shook his head.

"You should've told me. I don't want a girlfriend that hurts my brother." He sighed. "I guess I'll have to break up with her."

"Uh, she's also my math teacher at school." Darry gave me a funny look.

"Why would she be able to teach at school?"

"I don't know. Maybe she's in disguise or something."

"That makes sense." He looked betrayed. I felt bad for him. He really loved her a lot. She walked in just then.

"Hi, Darry," she said with a smile.

"We need to talk," he said and pulled her into another room. A few minutes later, I saw her storm out of our house with an angry look on her face. They broke up. Darry looked a little sad.

"It's okay, Darry. You'll probably find another girlfriend," I said, trying to cheer him up. He gave a half smile.

"Thanks, Pony. But I don't think that I want a new girlfriend for a while." Then Sodapop walked in.

"Hey, I saw Christine outside. She looked really mad. Did something happen?" Darry sighed, and told him that they broke up.

"Oh. Sorry about that," Soda said. He knew exactly how Darry felt.

"It'll be okay." Everything would be okay now. Everything would go back to the way it was. If only it did.

**Ha! Another cliffy. Review, please!**


	3. Court and lies

The next day, the fuzz showed up at our house. Darry opened the door.

"Are you Darrel Curtis?" The fuzz said.

"Yes," Darry answered.

"Well, someone showed up at the station yesterday and said that you have been abusing that kid over there."

"What? Ponyboy? That's not true." This wasn't good. Someone told them a lie. We could be separated!

"There's been a mistake. I'm not being abused!" I tried to tell him. He didn't believe me. He probably thought that Darry forced me to say that.

"You have to appear in court tomorrow at 3:00 pm." He closed the door. Darry slowly turned around with a confused and horrified expression on his face.

"I don't understand. Why would someone lie to the police about that?" Sodapop asked.

"Probably someone who wants revenge on Darry," I said.

"Christine!" We all said.

"Oh, no," Darry moaned.

"What are we going to do?" I asked.

"We have to go anyways. All we can do is hope that the jury is in our favor," Darry said.

So the next day, we went to court. We were right. Christine was the accuser. I knew that if she wasn't in disguise, they would drop the charges on Darry and arrest her before any of us could blink. I couldn't believe how good she was at lying. She stood up there, acting like she cared about me and accusing Darry. I stood up. I was going to rip her head off, but Darry held me back. When it was our turn, he tried to explain that it was all a lie, and me and Soda said that Darry took good care of us and that he was a good brother.

We also tried to explain that Christine was the abuser and that she is in disguise, but I don't think that anyone believed us. I guess that if I was someone else, I wouldn't believe us either; she did look innocent. Beneath all that though, she was an evil monster. I was getting worried. What if we lost? Darry reached over and squeezed my shoulder.

"What's the verdict?" I swallowed hard. _'Please don't separate us now!' _I thought.

"The defendant is found guilty." No. I felt the blood drain from my face. Darry and Soda looked devastated. The judge told me that someone is coming to get me tomorrow morning at 8:00 to take me to a boys' home. I couldn't believe what I was hearing. I saw Darry talking to Christine and I walked closer to hear them.

"Why did you do that?" Darry asked.

"I lost a boyfriend, you lose a brother," she said and walked out the door.

"I'm sorry, little buddy," Darry said.

"It's okay. It's not your fault. She framed you," I said. I almost said that it was my fault for telling him that she was an abuser so that they broke up, but we would've lost all our money. Then we got in our Ford and we went home. Soda looked really sad, and I leaned on his shoulder the rest of the way home.


	4. Goodbye, Ponyboy

The next morning, I woke up and saw that it was 7:00. I had one hour to get everything ready. I walked into the kitchen and saw Darry sitting there. I knew that he probably didn't get much sleep last night.

"Hey, Ponyboy. Is Soda awake yet?"

"No," I said, but then he walked in, looking at the floor.

"Morning, Soda," Darry said. Soda didn't say a word. "You okay, Pepsi-Cola?" He just shook his head and sat down at the table.

"Did you make breakfast?" I asked Darry.

"No. Are you hungry?"

"No." I wasn't hungry at all.

"How about you, Pepsi?" Sodapop shook his head 'no.' We were all too miserable to eat anything. I tried to smile.

"Let's just try to make the most of our time. We can't just sit here and feel sorry for ourselves. C'mon, Soda, you should be the one saying this." He grinned a little and ruffled my hair.

"You're right, Pony. What do you think that we should do?" I looked over at Darry and said, "How about we play some football?" He smiled at me.

"Okay. We could get Two-Bit and Steve to come."

"We don't have a lot of time. We only have about an hour," Sodapop reminded us.

"We'll just get in as much as the game as we can. Do you have everything else ready for… later?"

"Yeah." So we headed out to get Steve and Two-Bit. We split into teams. I was with Darry, and Soda was with Two-Bit and Steve. About a half hour into our game, Darry looked at his watch and called a time out. We all stopped and looked at him. It was 7:50. I only had ten minutes left. We all stayed silent for a moment. This was my last ten minutes with the gang, or what's left of it. Our gang was already kind of small before Dallas and Johnny died. There are only five of us now. Two-Bit and Steve announced that they had to leave.

"So… I guess I'll see you in a couple years?" Two-Bit asked.

"I guess. I'm gonna miss you guys. See ya, Two-Bit."

"I'll see you around, kid." I didn't really know what to say to Steve; he didn't even like me.

"We'll be waitin' for you, kid," Steve said. I was a little surprised. I didn't think that he would really say anything, but I guess since our gang shrunk like that, we're all we got left.

"I'll see you, Steve." Then they left. We walked back into our house so I could gather up all my stuff. I glanced at the clock, and it said 7:55. Five more minutes. I walked into the living room where Soda and Darry were talking. They looked up at me.

"So… this is it?" I asked.

"Aw, shoot, Ponyboy, we'll see you in a few years," Soda said with a sad smile.

"I know. It's not going to feel like just a few years, though. I'll probably have bad nightmares a lot, and I won't have you around to help me. Maybe I can ask if you can come with me."

"I can't do that, Ponyboy."

"Why not?"

"What about Darry?"

"What do you mean?" I asked. Then I realized what Soda was saying. If he came with me, that meant that Darry would lose both of us, and Soda helps him with the bills and stuff like that. It would crush him if he lost us both. Darry was looking at the floor. I felt bad.

"Sorry, Darr. I didn't mean that," I said. He looked up at me.

"That's okay." I sat down by him and laid my head on his shoulder. He ruffled my hair. We sat there like that for a few minutes when we heard a noise. We looked out the window and saw a car out there. Darry looked at his watch. It was 8:00. There was a knock on the door.

"I'm here to get Ponyboy," the lady said.

"Hold on," I said. I turned to Sodapop. "Bye, Soda. I'm gonna miss you." I hugged him tight.

"Me too, Pony." I looked over at Darry. I knew that I couldn't say anything to him now because that lady would probably be confused since she thinks that we hate each other and it wouldn't make any sense to her. So I just mouthed the words, 'Bye, Darry. I'll miss you too.' He nodded slightly, just enough to let me know that he understood what I said.

"Come on, Ponyboy," she said. I picked up my bags and followed her out of my house and into her car. I still couldn't believe that any of this was happening. She didn't really say anything on the way, so I kept my mouth shut too. By the time we got there, I felt sick and my head was spinning. This can't be real. It has to be all a terrible nightmare. I have to wake up soon. I'll open my eyes and Sodapop will be next to me. I tried to wake myself up. It didn't work. But then again, everything felt real.

"We're here. You can call me Miss Calvin," she said as we walked in. Then she pointed over to a girl with blonde hair. "That's Miss Caroline. She takes care of everyone here." I was wondering why a _girl_ was taking care of everyone in a _boys' _home, but I didn't care enough to ask. Then she showed me to my room and I put all my stuff down. I laid on the bed and stared at the ceiling. I remembered what I was thinking when I woke up after being asleep and delirious for four days after Dally died. This was what it was like to be staring at a different ceiling. In a different bed, and in a different room. This was going to be a very long four years.

**A/N: I own Miss Calvin and Miss Caroline and any other OC's I might add along the way! I'm really sorry if some of this stuff isn't very realistic. I don't really know much about half the stuff I wrote in the last chapter. I don't really know much about court and stuff. This is the best I could do. I didn't really feel like researching all that stuff just for fanfiction. I am **_**not**_** a professional writer. I hope you like it anyways! And as for the second to last sentence, if you don't know what Pony was talking about, go to page 157 in the Outsiders book. Believe me, it's there. I'm holding the book in my hands as I'm typing this right now. Also, I know I overuse the word 'said' a lot. Sorry about that! I'm really trying not to do that. Review, please!**


	5. Talking to Darry

**Miss Caroline POV**

One day, I saw Ponyboy sitting in a chair and drawing a picture when I walked over and sat down next to him.

"Hi, Ponyboy. I haven't heard you talk much since you got here. Are you okay?" He didn't even look up.

"No." I didn't expect that answer.

"Why not? What's the matter?"

He looked up at me and said, "Well, I was living with my two brothers since my mom and dad died, and then my oldest brother didn't realize that he was dating an abuser, and I found out. I told him, and then they broke up. She got mad and told a lie to the police saying that he was abusing me, so we went to court and as you can see, we lost." Wow. That was horrible. I didn't really know what to say. "But he does take care of me. And I love my brothers. I don't belong here. We've been trying real hard to stay together. My oldest brother, Darrel, has to work two jobs, and he never got to go to college since we can't afford it and he has to take care of us. My other brother, Sodapop, dropped out of school, and he has a job too. It's really dumb that we had to be separated now, only because of a lie."

"Oh, my. That must be terrible. What was that girl's name?" I had an idea.

"Christine Melony. Can you leave now? I'd kind of like to be alone now."

"Okay, Ponyboy." I knew what I was going to do. I was going to pay his brothers a visit. I just needed to ask Mary Calvin where they live. I found her working in her office.

"Hey, Mary."

"What do you need?"

"Where do Ponyboy's brothers live?"

"Not that far from here. You just turn down the street on the left of this one, and their house number is 235."

"Thanks." I wondered why she didn't ask the reason why I wanted to know, but that made it easier for me since I didn't have to explain what I was doing. So I followed her instructions to the house and knocked on the door. A tall man with dark brown hair and pale blue-green eyes opened the door. He was nothing short of handsome. "Hello. I'm Miss Caroline, and I am the owner of the boys' home. Are you Ponyboy's oldest brother?"

"Yes."

"Oh. You must be Darrel, then."

"Yeah. Do you need something?"

"I just want to talk to you about Ponyboy. Can I come in?"

"Sure. Sit anywhere." I walked in and sat down in a chair. "Would you like something to drink?"

"Sure. Do you have coffee?"

"Yeah. I'll be right back." He walked into the kitchen. I liked this man. He seemed very kind. He walked back in and handed me the coffee. "Here."

"Thank you."

"Is Ponyboy doing alright?" He looked pretty concerned. He couldn't have possibly been hurting Ponyboy if he was worried about him.

"He's okay. He just doesn't talk to anyone. He really misses you guys." Then I remembered that Ponyboy said that he had _two_ brothers. "Where's Sodapop?"

"Oh, he's out running errands. I told him that I would do it, but he insisted to do it himself. He'll be back in an hour or so." I suddenly noticed dark circles under his eyes. He looked really tired.

"Have you been getting any sleep?"

"Not much."

"Do you guys miss Ponyboy a lot?" I knew that was a dumb question, but I asked anyways.

"Yeah. Nothing really feels right anymore. Two of our friends died not that long ago, and losing Pony doesn't really help at all. And everything just happened so fast. It's like he was there one minute, and gone the next. It feels like I'm slowly losing everything, and there's nothing I can do to stop it." I felt bad for him. Losing his parents, two friends, and his youngest brother like that must be horrible. "Is Ponyboy having any nightmares?"

I wasn't expecting that question. I almost didn't tell him. I didn't want him to worry about his brother anymore than he already was, but it would still make him worry if I didn't answer, so I said, "Yes. It must be bad too. It's always quiet at night until about 4:30 in the morning when there's a loud scream, and I always find him in bed with sweat and tears streaming down his face. He feels really bad about waking all of us up. I tried to ask him to tell me about it, but he always says that he can't remember." He shook his head.

"He's been having those same nightmares ever since our mom and dad died. He doesn't usually scream unless there's no one there to calm him down while he's still sleeping. He's used to Sodapop being there. It would be better if he had a friend to be there to calm him down if you guys want to have all eight hours of sleep." I talked to him for about fifteen minutes when I decided that I should go. I knew that he was innocent and I had to get these brothers back together again. I think that I was suddenly starting to fall in love with him. I thought that maybe that it was just pity for him, and not love, but I looked into his eyes and I knew that it was more than pity. I stood up and walked over to him.

"I have to go now. I like you, Darrel. Goodbye," I said, then I kissed him on the cheek and left. I saw him out of the corner of my eye and he lifted his hand to his cheek where I'd kissed him, and he looked stunned. I smiled. Time to go find Ponyboy's caseworker.


	6. Missing Pony

**Sorry about the delayed update. I'm really busy with school right now and I just come back from my vacation to Walt Disney World. So… here's chapter 6! Enjoy my favorite character's POV!**

**Darry POV**

I stood there and watched her leave. I lifted my hand to my cheek. I can't believe she just kissed me. Why? Oh, well. I slowly sat back down in my chair. I hope Ponyboy will be okay. I shook my head. Everything was happening way too fast. First Mom and Dad, then Dallas and Johnny, and now Ponyboy's gone. Who's next? Everything seemed to be falling apart. My family was reduced from five to only two. The gang from seven to four. It's just not right. I would do anything to get Pony, Mom, Dad, Johnny, and Dallas back. Why does everything have to happen to us? We have enough problems.

I stood up and walked back to the kitchen and searched the icebox for chocolate cake. I couldn't find any. We were out? I should've told Soda to pick some up. Oh, well. I sat back down and grabbed the remote for the TV. I flipped through all the channels, but I couldn't find anything worth watching. I turned it off and ran my hands through my hair. I'm not the type of person that just sits around all day and does nothing, but I just felt like I should just try to relax on my day off.

Mr. Cullins must have noticed how tired I was, even though I still worked as hard as I ever had. He said he thought that I worked to hard. He's a nice guy. Same with Mr. Evans. Still working two jobs after losing Pony and hardly getting any sleep was a little nerve-racking, but I think I can handle it. I decided to take a nap and relieve some of my lost sleep. I fell asleep in the chair within three minutes.

I was jerked awake by a loud noise. Our Ford. Soda was back. He walked in with a grocery bag.

"Hey, Darry. I have a few more bags out there."

"I'll help." We went outside to get them.

We walked back in and we were putting everything away when Soda asked, "So, what were you doing?"

"Well, the owner of the boys' home came over to talk to me."

"What for?"

"I don't know. She just talked to me about Ponyboy." Soda looked at me.

"Is he okay?"

"Sort of. She said that he misses us a lot and he doesn't talk to anyone." He shook his head.

"Poor Pony."

"Yeah." The poor kid was so miserable. And all because my stupid former girlfriend lied. I knew it wasn't my fault, but I couldn't help but blame myself for this. Tears welled up in my eyes, but I brushed them away. I couldn't cry now, I had to stay strong for Soda. I would miss Pony, but he wasn't gone forever. I'd see him again in four years. Then, a thought hit me. What about Pony's birthdays? And the other holidays he wouldn't be able to celebrate with us? Especially Christmas. That was his favorite.

Even though Soda was the one that seemed to bring the life into everything, Pony was the one who brought all the life into Christmas. And that was just a month from now. It would be so nice if we could visit him to celebrate, but I doubt that they would let me. I wish there was something I could do to fix this.

After supper, I stared at the chair Pony would always sit in, like I did every day he was gone. _'He doesn't belong there,'_ I thought. _'He should be sitting right there, not sitting in that boys' home being miserable and alone. If only there could be something I could do.' _I looked down and studied my hands. Soda walked up and put a hand on my shoulder.

"Come on, Darry. You really need some sleep. Did you get any rest at all this week?"

"Maybe a minute or two." I tried to grin.

"Come on, Dar." I sighed heavily and got up from the table to go to my room and lay down. I didn't sleep.

**A/N: There are one or two chapters to go. Maybe three, but that might be pushing it. Review! **


	7. Questions and the Truth

**Um, I don't know if lie detectors existed in the 1960's, but they do in my story since I have no other ideas on how to make this work. So, the critics out there just need to live with it, because I'm not changing it. Enjoy!**

**Miss Caroline POV**

When I walked into the building, I saw someone sitting at the front desk.

"Excuse me?" I asked. She looked up.

"Can I help you?"

"Uh, I need to talk to Ponyboy Curtis's caseworker."

"Hold on a second. Brittany!" A woman who I guessed was Brittany walked in.

"Can I talk to you?" I said.

"What about?"

"Ponyboy."

"Sure. Follow me." So I followed her to her office.

"There's been a terrible mistake." I said.

"What is it?"

"Christine lied. Ponyboy's brother Darrel never abused him. She said that to get revenge on him for breaking up with her. She was with him to get his money. I don't know why, though. They don't have much money. I guess she just steals whatever she can. Darrel Curtis is innocent." She merely stared at me.

"She certainly didn't look like she was lying, and what proof do you have?"

'Did it look like he was lying either?" That gave her something to think about.

"Well, I can't do anything until you have proof."

"Then I'll get some." I walked out without giving her a chance to respond. I headed to Darrel's house first. Sodapop answered the door.

"Who are you?" He asked.

"I'm the owner of the boys' home. Can I talk to your brother?"

"Sure. Darry!" He yelled. Oh. Darry must be his nickname.

"What is it now? Is Pony okay?" Darry asked.

"Ponyboy's okay. I just want you to come to the office tomorrow."

"For what?"

"You'll see."

"Wait! Tell me."

"Okay. You might be able to get Ponyboy back." His eyes lit up and he gave a hopeful smile. That made him look so adorable. Hot, even.

"Really?" He asked. I nodded.

"I'll see you tomorrow." Now was the hard part. I had to convince Christine to come. I didn't know what to say that would make her come, but I was sure that I could come up with something. I stopped. Before I thought of that, I had to find out where she lives. That problem was solved when I saw her walking down the street. I had to lie to get her to come. "Excuse me?" I called to her.

"What?" I had to think up a lie, and fast.

"Uh, are you Christine Melony?"

"Yeah. Why?"

"Then you've just won 10,000 dollars! I'll come back tomorrow and you can follow me to claim it." I hoped that hadn't sounded too fake. Surprisingly, she didn't even ask if that was a lie. She believed me.

"Okay." So then I walked back to the boys' home to check up on the kids. I wasn't going to tell Ponyboy about my plan to reunite him with his brothers because I didn't want to get his hopes up in case it didn't work out, and I wanted it to be a surprise. I hoped that it would all work out. I didn't want to disappoint Darry. I wanted these brothers back together.

The next day, I walked outside to find Christine. I was walking down a street when I saw her standing outside of her house. I walked up and said, "Follow me." So she followed me to Brittany's office.

As soon as we sat down, she said, Can I have the money now?"

"As soon as you answer some questions," I answered. Just then, Darry walked in. He took one look at Christine and turned around to leave. I needed him to stay here. "Darry, wait!"

He turned back around and said, "Why is she here?"

"She's here to claim 10,000 dollars." I winked at him. He gave me a questioning look. I walked up to him and whispered so that Christine couldn't hear. "Not really. She just thinks that. I had to lie to get her to come."

'What's going on? Why didn't you tell me that she was coming?"

"You'll see. I didn't tell you because you wouldn't come. Just work with me here, okay?" He nodded and sat down in the chair farthest away from Christine, and I sat beside him. Sitting next to him kinda sent chills through me. I guess that's just what happens when you sit next to someone that you think is hot. I shivered a little, and he noticed it.

"You okay?" He asked with a concerned look on his face.

"I'm fine." Brittany waved me over.

"What's going on? Why does she think that she won 10,000 dollars?"

"I had to lie to get her to come. Trust me."

"Okay…"

"Are we going to get on with this already?" Christine asked impatiently.

"All in good time," I said. Her eyes narrowed.

"Wait. Is this a scam?"

"No…" She didn't believe me.

"I'm out of here." She walked to the door to find it locked. "What is the meaning of this?" She yelled angrily.

"Calm down, Christine. You'll still get the money. I swear." Well, with that said, I just lost 10,000 dollars, but for a good reason. Brittany looked at me and raised an eyebrow. "It's the only way," I whispered to her. Christine reluctantly sat back down.

Brittany snapped her fingers and said, "Neither of you can lie to me about anything, because if you do, the lie detector will know." Christine looked nervous for a second, but then she put on a straight face again. Brittany didn't believe Darry's side of the story, and she started with him first. "So, Darrel. Have you ever hit Ponyboy?"

Fear flashed through his eyes and he hesitated before he answered. Why? He wasn't guilty of abusing Pony. He lowered his head.

"Yes."

I couldn't believe what I was hearing. He said before that he wasn't guilty. But the lie detector didn't protest his answer.

"Darry?" I asked, bewildered. He sighed.

"Let me explain. One night, he was going to the movies and he fell asleep in a vacant lot with one of his friends. He knew that he should've been home by midnight, but he showed up at two o'clock in the morning. During that time, I was worried that he got hurt or something terrible happened. I came close to calling the police, but I couldn't bring myself to do it. We could've been separated. As soon as he walked through our door, I gave him the lecture of a lifetime. He tried to explain what happened and that he didn't mean to, but I only yelled more. Then I slapped him so hard that he knocked into the door. I tried to apologize, but he started running before I could say anything. I tried to tell him that I didn't mean to hit him, but he was already out of sight. That was the worst mistake I've ever made in my entire life."

Brittany and I stared at him. Christine didn't seem to care.

"He forgave you, right?" I asked, looking at him sympathetically.

"Yes. And I never hit him again."

Brittany looked over to Christine. "Have you ever thought about stealing Darrel's money while you were together?" She didn't answer. "Answer the question!" Brittany snapped. Christine remained silent with absolutely no expression on her face.

"Okay, then. If you don't answer, you can just forget about the 10,000 dollars!"

"So? What would I do with 10,000 dollars if I was stuck in jail?" Her eyes widened and she brought her hand to cover her mouth. "Uh, I mean, no, I've never thought of stealing his money." The lie detector went off. Christine bit her lip. Brittany's eyes narrowed.

"I have another question for Darrel. Did Christine lie about you? Do you really care about your brother, and you want him back?" Darry smiled.

"Yes."

"Then I think that's enough proof for me. I'll talk to someone about you getting Ponyboy back. You can leave now."

"But, how do we get out? I thought the door was locked."

"It was, but I told someone beforehand to unlock it after five minutes." Christine frowned, and Darry stifled a laugh and walked out. I followed him. He turned to face me.

"Thanks."

"You're welcome, Darry." We stood there staring at each other for a few minutes. Then he turned around and left. I smiled and walked out the door.


	8. Darry in Love

**Darry POV**

I walked out the door of Brittany's office, and I could sense someone following me. I turned around. It was Miss Caroline.

"Thanks," I said. I could've kicked myself. That's all I could say? She gave me a chance to get my little brother back, and all I can say is 'thanks'? But that seemed like it was enough for her.

"You're welcome, Darry." She smiled at me, and you know what? That made her look awful pretty. I wanted to say something, but no words came. Then I realized that she likes me. That's why she kissed me the other day. That's why she stared at me like I've been named the hottest man who ever lived. But, why me and not Sodapop? She's seen him, but she looks right past him and asks, 'Where's Darry?' That surprised me. Sure, girls have liked me before, but they changed their minds as soon as they saw Soda. Sometimes I just hated losing all those girls to my younger brother, but I always thought that it was for the best.

Soda was the movie star of the three of us, but this girl loved _me_, and it felt good. Why wasn't I ever able to tell that she liked me before? It was actually pretty obvious. Especially the way she looked at me when I told her the story of how I had accidentally hit Pony. The way she stared at me, anyone who couldn't hear what I was saying would think that I was telling her the story of how I had taken a bullet for the kid and almost died.

I had the urge to kiss her, but then I thought that it could wait until I actually got Pony back. So I just smiled and walked out the door to go home. Soda must have noticed the wide grin on my face, because he said, "Wow, Dar. I've never seen you so happy. You win the lottery or something?"

"We might get Ponyboy back." His eyebrows rose so high, I thought that they would fly off his forehead.

"Really? How?"

"Well, the owner of the boys' home felt sorry for me, and…"

"Wait." He held up his hand with a mischievous grin on his face. "Are you tellin' me that this girl is in love with you?" I smiled. "I gotta tell the gang. "Hey guys!" He yelled, "Darry's got a new girl!" Two Bit and Steve walked up.

"Whoa, Superman," Two Bit said with an astonished expression on his face. Steve looked similar.

"Oh, don't look so surprised. Girls have liked me before."

"Yeah, but they usually leave you for Soda. Has this girl seen him yet?" Steve asked.

"Yeah, she's seen him."

"Wow. So, who is she? Is she pretty? Have you kissed yet?" Two Bit asked excitedly.

"Yeah, which girl out there is the new Supergirl?" Steve added.

"She's the owner of the boys' home. Yes, she's pretty. We haven't kissed, but she did kiss me on the cheek once."

"How'd you manage to score points with the owner of the boys' home?"

"I don't know. But I was trying to tell Soda that we might be able to get Pony back."

"How?" I told them what happened.

Two Bit slapped me on the back and said, "Way to go, Superman. I knew this would all work out eventually since it was just a big mistake."

"Yeah, I'm actually kind of glad that he might come back," Steve said. We all turned to look at him. "What? We need every man that we can get."

Soda turned to me and whispered, "I think he actually misses Pony. He just won't admit it." I laughed a little, and an angry look crossed Steve's face.

"Soda? What did you just tell him?" Soda started rocking on his feet and whistled nonchalantly. "Oh, I am going to get you now!" Steve said, grabbing a pillow.

"You're on!" Soda challenged. He reached for a pillow, but all he got was a fistful of air. "Uh, oh." With that, Soda ran out the door and Steve ran after him.

"Run, Sodapop, run!" Two Bit screamed. I smiled and shook my head. "Well, I'll see ya, Dar. Good luck!"

"Thanks." He left and I followed him outside to see Steve beating the heck out of Soda with a pillow.

"Tell me what you said!"

"No!"

"Alright, Steve, Soda's had enough."

"But I want to know what he said."

"So? You better lay off my kid brother."

"But…" I glared at him. "Fine. I think I'll just go now. See y'all later."

"Hold up, Steve. You don't really need to lift that pillow, do you?" Soda said smartly.

"Here." Steve shoved it in his face and walked off.

"C'mon, Soda. Let's go back inside now."

The next day after I came home from work, there was a knock at the door, and I answered it.

"Hi, Darry."

"Hi, Miss Caroline."

"You know, you can just call me Jamie if you want.''

"Oh, okay."

"Well, there's going to be a hearing tomorrow at 4:00 to see if you can have Pony back, so… good luck!"

"Thanks a lot for helping us out."

"You're welcome. See you tomorrow." Gosh, she's pretty.

"Okay. Uh, do you want to come in for a little bit or something?"

"Sorry, I should probably go back now. Thanks anyway."

"Before you go, can I ask you something?"

"What?"

"Um, I was wondering why the state didn't take Soda away too. Not that I wanted them to, but…"

"No, I know what you mean. They didn't take him away because they knew that you were already poor and they knew that he had a job and was helping you pay the bills. There was also no evidence that you bothered him."

"There wasn't really any evidence that I bothered Pony either." She just shrugged.

"I don't know what to tell you about that."

"Okay, then. See you later." I closed the door and sat down in my recliner. We're one step closer to getting Pony back. Then Soda walked in.

"Hey, Dar. Who was that?"

"It was Jamie. She said that there will be a hearing tomorrow at 4:00."

"Jamie? Who's that? Wait, you mean your girlfriend?" I gave him a playful punch on the shoulder.

"She's not exactly my girlfriend, Soda."

"Whatever you say, Darry. Whatever you say."

**Ponyboy POV**

I was lying down in my bed and staring at the ceiling after another one of my failed attempts to pretend that I was still at home. I was missing my brothers and what was left of our gang something fierce. I was a little worried about Darry. No doubt he was blaming himself for this even though it wasn't exactly his fault. He looked really sad when I left, maybe even more than Soda. I didn't even want to imagine how he felt now. I was wishing that maybe they could visit me sometime, and I was about to go ask when Miss Caroline came in.

"Hey, Ponyboy. I have some great news." I shot up.

"What?"

"There's going to be a hearing tomorrow at 4:00 to see if you can go back to your brothers." I couldn't believe my ears. It's too good to be true. If I was dreaming, I sure hoped that it would last.

"Really? How?"

"It's a long story. Let's just say that I was trying to fix this whole thing and I fell in love with Darry in the process, and everything else just fell into place."

"I knew it wouldn't take long for Soda to get a new girl… wait. Did you say Darry?"

"Yeah." I was a little surprised, since he did say that he didn't really want another girlfriend for a while, and he lost all the girls to Soda most of the time, but I was happy for him.

"That's good. So, you're really serious? About the hearing, I mean."

"Yep. Tomorrow at 4:00. Goodnight." Then she closed the door. I lay back down in bed, but I knew I wouldn't be able to sleep. We're not losing this time. I'm going home!

**A/N: I'm wondering where some of my reviewers have gone. WHERE DID EVERYBODY GO? I mean, the ones who were reviewing almost every chapter seemed to have forgotten this story. I've been working so hard on this and I get hardly any reviews for the last few chapters. I like to know what people think of it, and not just how many people read it. I'm thinking of maybe being an author when I grow up, and I want to know if I am off to a good start. And out of 125 hits to chapter 7... I only get 2 reviews. So... only 2 out of 125 people reviewed. All you need to do is click the button and say what you thought of it. I'd like to at least have 5 reviews. Okay, my rant's over. I just had to let you people know. My next chapter is probably going to be pretty short, but you'll have to read it to find the outcome of the hearing! So… Read and REVIEW!**


	9. The Hearing

**Darry POV**

When I saw Pony at the hearing, I was so glad to see him. I just wanted so badly to run over and tell him how much we missed him and squeeze the daylights out of him, but I didn't. I just sat down next to Soda and waited for it to start. To tell you the truth, I was feeling a little nervous, and Soda gave me a reassuring smile. I could tell he was nervous too, though. Jamie, my brothers, and I all told the same story of what happened, and Brittany told the judge about the lie detector test. Boy, did that make Christine look bad. She looked really nervous and she had probably run out of ideas for lies to get her out of it. We explained that she had lied the whole time and that I made sure to take good care of my brothers and try my hardest to keep us together.

Well, when it came to Christine's turn, I knew as well as she did that there was absolutely nothing she could say to really defend herself at all. I knew that she didn't want to just give up, but she did. She admitted that we were right and that she lied. The judge said that I could have Pony back and is his guardian once again, and apologized for the mistake. We all walked out, and Pony immediately had me around the waist and was squeezing me to death.

"Welcome home, kiddo," I said.

"I missed you guys a lot." His voice was barely above a whisper.

"I know. We missed you, too."

"I love you, Darry." That took me off guard. He'd never said that to me before.

"I love you too, little buddy." He smiled at me, and then ran over to hug attack Soda. Then I walked over to Jamie.

"I could've never gotten Ponyboy back without your help. I can't thank you enough for this…" Before I could say anything else, she kissed me, on the lips this time. I closed my eyes and enjoyed the moment.

Then she pulled away and said, "You're welcome."

I guess Soda and Pony were watching, because Soda said, "Aw, Dar's first kiss." Ponyboy started laughing. I felt my face redden.

"Shut up, Soda." I looked back to Jamie. "So… I'll see you around?"

"Yeah. Goodbye, Darry."

"Hold on. Uh, do you want to go out sometime?" She smiled.

"We'll see." Then she walked off. I walked over to my brothers and drove them home.

When we walked in the door, they were still laughing about Soda's comment.

"I'll get you back for that comment someday, Sodapop."

"We'll see," He said, batting his eyelashes. That did it. I grabbed the nearest pillow and started chasing him with it. I finally caught up with him and grabbed his arm to pull him down.

"You better watch what you say, little buddy!"

I rose up my pillow to hit him, but he said, "Okay! I take it back! I surrender!" I got up and tossed the pillow onto the couch. I reached out my hand to help him up. He stuck out his tongue. I flicked my eyes towards the pillow and he took the hint. I laughed and ruffled his hair. Then Steve and Two Bit came in and saw Ponyboy.

"It's Pony! Welcome home once again!" Two Bit yelled and tackled him to the ground. Steve was laughing.

Pony said, "Darry, get him off!"

"Two Bit lay off the kid, please."

"Okay, I guess I can."

"Oh, yeah," Steve said, "I was gonna tell you guys to turn on the TV and watch channel 8."

"Why?"

"You'll see." I shrugged and grabbed the remote and went to channel 8. It was Christine. She was being arrested by the police. It wasn't announced how long she would be in jail, but I guessed that it would be a long, long time.

"You see that?" Two Bit said.

"Yep."

"Oh, any more news about your girlfriend?"

Before I could get one word out, Soda shouted, "They kissed!"

"Congratulations, Darry! You hit the nail on the head."

"What is this? A game show?" I asked. Everyone laughed. Well, I thought, this was the wildest part of my life for sure. I was just glad it was over and Ponyboy was home, and I had a new girlfriend, a good one this time. I hoped my problems were over, although they were probably far from it, but for the moment, life was good.

**A/N: The End! That was my longest fanfiction story ever. I hope you enjoyed it. I think it really turned out great. Thank you to all of my reviewers! I did enjoy writing this, even though it took forever. Review, please! :)**


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